Film Tax Incentives and Michigan Dems

hooveram

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Monday July 19, 2010 · 10:14 PM PDT

2010/07/19 · 22:14

According to an article out of the Associated Press yesterday, the three main gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin are all in agreement that the tax incentives for filmmaking there should be changed. How exactly they should go about changing those incentives, however, no one seems to be quite sure.

After candidate Tom Barrett (D) released statements in support of reinstating the 25-percent tax break in the state (drastically cut by Gov. Jim Doyle a year ago), neither of the main Republican candidates seems to be able to agree with him, despite the obvious advantages of such a reinstatement. Scott Walker says he's still "finalizing" a plan and looking at those of other states, while Mark Neumann says he didn't support the credits to begin with.

It all brings to the foreground a tax incentive debate in a not-too-distant land: that of Michigan, where credits of up to 42% for production costs spent in the state have lured in any number of A-list stars and lucrative productions to the struggling "mitten" in recent years. There has been a great deal of debate, however, amongst politicians in Michigan as to whether those tax credits are too high, or whether they are just what is needed to seed a new industry's roots in the state.

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